Bermuda’s Nicole DeShields was a bit nervous when she left her family for five months in January to upgrade her professional skills. But the bold move paid off with Mrs. DeShields finishing top of the class with 95 percent - an A.

A nurse’s aide at Agape House for eight years, Mrs. DeShields had long dreamed of becoming a nurse so when the Bermuda Hospitals Board announced plans to train four nurses’ aides as nursing assistants, she jumped at the chance.

A wife and mother of three told Body & Soul last September: “I am excited but a little nervous about getting back into school. I love to learn and think it’s going to be a very interesting course.”

Mrs. DeShields. along with fellow Bermuda Hospitals Board nurses’ aides, Patrina Ricketts, Dionne Gouness and Peta Evans attended Gateway Community College in Phoenix, Arizona for a four-month intensive programme to become certified nursing assistants.

The course including airfare and board was covered by BHB. On completion the women were allowed to sit the Arizona state board exams. All four passed with ease and have been promoted to the new post of certified nursing assistant in their former departments. I spoke with three of them recently.

“I found it very interesting. It grounded me,” said Mrs. DeShields. “It really made me stop and think about the patient more. There’s a need to think about the patient in almost everything we do.”

Practical clinical experience was a part of the curriculum and all three women agreed it broadened their outlook considerably. “The importance of taking pride in our personal appearance is not the type of thing I had consciously thought of before the course,” said Mrs. DeShields. “But when I think, from the patient’s point of view, I can see how that will make a big impression. Appearing neat, clean and tidy can put a patient at ease. I also recognised that not everyone speaks English and that by smiling I could comfort someone.”

Ms Gouness, who had not been in a classroom since she left high school more than 20 years ago, said the experience made her thirsty for more training. Patrina Ricketts said she realised the basic training she had received at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital was much the same as that given on the Arizona course. “It’s that you do tend to change once you are in a different setting. You do tend to forget what you have been taught and revert to old habits. This course was a good reminder for me of what to do and what not to do,” she said.

“For example hand washing. We know the importance of hand washing and we do it, but there is a set procedure,” she said. “Fingernails must be included and the first wash should be two minutes and then you are not supposed to flick afterward. I tend to flick the water off but this can spread any germs that may be present. The correct procedure is to wash your hands then dry them. No flicking.”

In addition to the practical clinical work in the field, the course included classroom theory. All women said they found the course on medical terminology the most challenging and the most beneficial. Here they learned to understand the meaning of illnesses, equipment and testing by splitting the words into their constituent Latin or Greek roots for example, anything with the suffix ‘itis’ indicates an inflammation of tissue. Arthr-itis is from the Latin ‘arthro’ for ‘joint’ making ‘arthritis’ an inflammation of the joint.

The Arizona course left the women more confident. They said in many instances they learned what not to do. In particular the geriatric facility they worked in was loaded with mistakes they saw straight away many of which they reported. They said their previous knowledge impressed their instructors and they found themselves helping many of their classmates.

“Most of the girls have no experience at all so we would help them,” said Ms Ricketts.